CHARM-EU welcomes three new partners
Posted on: 31 January 2022
During the CHARM-EU Rector’s Assembly that took place on 14 January 2022, CHARM-EU approved the integration of three new alliance partners: Åbo Akademi University from Finland, Würzburg University from Germany, and Hochschule Ruhr West from Germany which to date has been an associate partner.
These three new partners strengthen the CHARM-EU European University Alliance made up of the University of Barcelona, Trinity College Dublin, Utrecht University, Eötvös Loránd University and University of Montpellier. CHARM-EU is co-funded by the Erasmus + Programme representing a Challenge-Driven, Accessible, Research-based and Mobile model for the co-creation of a European University aligned with the European Values and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Through this strategic collaboration, CHARM-EU will reinforce its mission of designing and consolidating the university of the future by increasing the quality, international competitiveness, diversity and inclusiveness, and in the end, the attractiveness of the European Higher Education landscape. Together, the CHARM-EU partners will work towards our common goals on the path towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.
The integration of the three new members will contribute to achieving CHARM-EU’s main vision to reconcile humanity with the planet while providing experiences from different educational systems, including curriculum design, teaching and learning and digital transformation. Åbo Akademi University and Würzburg University share with the founder partners of CHARM-EU a similar profile and the membership of Coimbra Group. Hochschule Ruhr West increases the diversity within CHARM-EU’s group of higher education institutions and its community. Due to its different profile and size, Hochschule Ruhr West will join progressively and will participate in a selective set of the CHARM-EU activities.
The three new partnerships will enhance the alliance’s regional, cultural, lingual, economic, and historical perspectives and diversity.
With this expansion, CHARM-EU is not only supporting the aim to expand and diversify existing alliances of European Higher Education Institutions under the European University Initiative. It also embraces the two latest initiatives of the European Union adopted last week: a European strategy for universities and a Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on building bridges for effective European higher education cooperation. During the press conference announcing this strategy, the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel stressed that “European Universities alliances are paving the way; by mid-2024 the European budget will support up to 60 European Universities Alliances with more than 500 universities across Europe.”